Communist Party officials have placed a rural village in northern China under â€œcurfewâ€ after a disabled couple accused the local government of masterminding the abduction of their 11-day-old baby, the coupleâ€™s son and lawyer have claimed.

Liu Laogen, 64, and his 50-year-old wife, Xia Fengge, say they have been seeking justice ever since the afternoon of June 8, 1995 when they claim their daughter was snatched from them by two women they believe were working for the local family planning bureau.

The baby was Ms Xiaâ€™s third and relatives believe family planning officials decided to take away the child in order to discourage other locals from breaking Chinaâ€™s one-child policy.

Eighteen years on, with the babyâ€™s whereabouts still a mystery, the couple has decided to speak out as they attempt to sue local authorities over the disappearance and uncover the truth.

â€œWe donâ€™t expect to get our child back. We just want to know whether she is still alive,â€ a weeping Ms Xia was quoted as saying by the Legal Evening News.

However, the coupleâ€™s decision to go public with their case appears to have infuriated officials from Qiaonan village in Hebeiâ€™s Anxin county where they live.

On Wednesday, the coupleâ€™s son, Liu Lingqun, told The Telegraph: â€œWe now have a curfew in the village and reporters are not allowed to enter. My parents have been feeling unwell over the last few days and didnâ€™t sleep at all last night.â€ Mr Liu said officials had offered his parents â€œcompensationâ€ of up to 200,000 yuan (around Â£2,000) if they abandoned the case.

â€œThey have also tried to restrict my freedoms and have closely monitored our house,â€ he added.

Lin Feng, the coupleâ€™s Beijing-based lawyer, confirmed the situation. â€œThe village has had a lockdown since last night and strangers are not allowed to enter,â€ he said.

Attempts to contact officials in Qiaonan village were unsuccessful on Wednesday.

A woman who answered the telephone at the headquarters of the Anxin county government and gave her name as Ms Chen said: â€œWe havenâ€™t heard of the lockdown of Qiaonan village. We havenâ€™t received any notice on the lawsuit. We donâ€™t know the details.â€

The case is the latest to underline the human cost of Chinaâ€™s one-child policy and the appalling abuses that it has spawned including forced abortions and child abductions.

Liu Lingqun, who was 10 at the time, said he could still remember the day his sister was snatched from his parents.

â€œMy father was taken to the town centre, handcuffed and beaten for two days,â€ he claimed. â€œI immediately ran out after the two women. I didnâ€™t know what was going on but I ran out of intuition after seeing my little sister being carried away.

â€œI have been witnessing the tears and hearing the words of my parents for the last 18 years,â€ added Mr Liu, who said his family would continue to battle for the truth. â€œWe canâ€™t compromise now.â€

Mr Lin, the family lawyer, said he was â€œpositiveâ€ the town government was responsible for what he called the â€œbrutal measureâ€ of seizing the child.

â€œThe couple suggested that they could send the girl away by themselves but the town government did not agree since it was worried it might affect their birth control targets if the daughter one day came back.â€

This year has seen widespread speculation that president Xi Jinping might attempt to instigate a policy shift, moving towards a two-child policy by 2015.

But those rumours were scotched by state media on Tuesday following a report in the China Business News claiming that Beijing was preparing for such a change.

A spokesperson for Chinaâ€™s National Health and Family Planning Commission told the Global Times newspaper family planning laws would be â€œimprovedâ€ but added that â€œthis does not indicate any loosening of the bans on second children.â€ â€œThe family planning policy will continue to be carried out firmly as a national policy,â€ Mao Qunâ€™an, the spokesperson, added.

Ms Xia said she just wanted the truth about her daughter. â€œAll we want is one small glimpse of her so we can die peacefully.â€

The authoritarian manner in which the Chinese Communist work is most extraordinary and appalling!

To imagine that they can place a village in China under â€œcurfewâ€ after abducting the child!

How inhuman can these Chinese be that while the couple donâ€™t expect to get our child back, they are denied the most plaintive plea of any parents to just want to know whether the child is still alive or not.

And add insult to injury the officials offers the parents â€œcompensationâ€ of up to 200,000 yuan (around Â£2,000) if they abandoned the case!

And what in the name of Scott should they restrict the freedoms and closely monitor the house?

I have never seen such heartless and corrupt human beings as these representatives of the Chinese Communist Party!